At this stage, Hungary is maintaining its veto on the legislative text aimed at increasing the duration of European sanctions against the Central Bank of Russia from 6 to 36 months.
“We must wait”, confirmed the Hungarian Finance Minister, Mihály Varga, on Tuesday 5 November at the end of the Ecofin Council, noting that this point was not on the agenda for the meeting of European finance ministers. Hungary wants to wait for the results of the American presidential elections before taking a position.
This stalemate has not prevented the European Union or the United States from contributing around $20 billion each to the G7 countries’ macroeconomic aid to Ukraine in the form of bilateral loans totalling $50 billion for 2025 (see EUROPE 13513/7).
On behalf of the European Commission, Valdis Dombrovskis urged “all Member States to move forward by adopting the last piece of legislation” still pending. In his view, this step would reduce the risk premium that the United States would impose on the beneficiary of its loan. Referring to IMF figures, he noted that Ukraine’s budget deficit would be “$41.5 billion this year”.
The European Commission is currently negotiating a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ukrainian authorities to flesh out the conditions attached to the EU’s macro-financial assistance for 2025, with the aim of starting disbursements as early as the end of 2024. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)